Reality Television

For years television programs dominated only by two genres: the comedy and drama.Shows that you and your family watched every night just to know what will happen to the characters of the show.Will he going to die?will she find out that she was her real daughter? was some of the questions we asked to ourselves after we finished watching that kind of TV programs.Today, however, TV programming are now dominating by new genre, the controversial and extremely popular reality TV shows.Shows like Big Brother,Survivor,Fear Factor ,American Idol and Amazing Race fell in this category.Even our local TV stations here in Philippines are now open to franchising international reality shows to produce local versions like Survivor Philippines,Philippine Idol,Pinoy Dream Academy and Pinoy Big Brother.

Reality TV shows is so very popular now because it is unpredictable and a guilty pleasure phenomenon. TV viewers loves watching sports because they don’t who will win in the end of the game just like in reality TV shows,you don’t know what’s going to happen next. Who’s going to cry,will they become friends again,which tribe will win the next challenge,who’s going to be the next idol.TV viewers loves giving their own opinion on what they think will happen next or who’s going to win and because of that watching reality TV shows satifies the needs of TV viewers for the unpredictable.Reality TV shows truly a guilty pleasure phenomenon even though you don’t want to watch it anymore,there’s still an urge to watch it because like what I said it satifies your needs of unpredictable and your needs of entertainment.

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The authorities in The Truman show include: Christof (Being the most important), The producers, Meryl and Marlon, Other cast members and the viewing Audience (Least Important). “We accept the reality of the world in which we are presented” (Christof). In other words if we believe the false world to be real, we will slowly begin to forget what reality is and accept that false world created. The authorities manipulated what Truman’s life was like and the people who were allowed into his. They did this to have a long lasting television program. There were a number of time throughout the film when manipulation occurs. For example when Truman was in the travel agency wanting to book a holiday to Fiji and the advisor tells him that there are no flights out of Seahaven (The...

...Breaking RealityRealitytelevision has brought many different cultures and lifestyles into the limelight. TLC’s Breaking Amish has cast that light upon Amish youth and their desire to break out of their stereotypical molds. Once the young Amish decide to become “English” or break away from the Amish Church, they are usually shunned and become outcasts of society. Are these young Amish renegades promoting unhealthy lifestyles and giving the Amish Church a bad name? It can be deemed that the Amish community is indeed being negatively portrayed and that the popular reality series is staged to attract drama-loving viewers.
In September 2012, Breaking Amish premiered nationwide to approximately 3.1 million viewers (Gary, n.d.). The numbers suggest that Americans definitely took an interest in the lives of these five young adults who chose to break away from the strict Amish Church. In fact, the series boasts the largest audience for a debut on TLC in two years (Snierson, 2012). It is understandable that the Amish community would have concerns over the portrayal of their culture and how it is perceived. With many of today’s television programming aimed at the fast-paced party lifestyles of young adults, one could only hope the purity of the ex-Amish would remain untainted by such temptations. As viewers have seen, this is not the case.
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...On an average, a popular realitytelevision show gets about 7 million cell phone text messages each episode.
At Rs 4 per SMS, that adds up to Rs 28 million per episode.
Over a year (52 weeks), that is an astounding Rs 1,460 million.
On a 50:50 split between the channel and the mobile operator, that works out to Rs 730 million to the channel.
All that money from just one reality show.
To get the SMSs in, they will motivate, inspire, incite, instigate and also lure you.
All you people who vote/SMS for reality shows, please note that you are part of a business strategy carefully drawn up in the boardroom and executed carefully by the director.
The regional/language/parochial/sympathy/failing-in-love cards are freely used. If all of them don't work, then you have a chance to win jewellery, a car, etcetera, etcetera.
And yes, you can vote as many times as you wish. The more you vote, the greater the chance of your favourite contestant winning. And you have a chance to win too.
Anything to make you send a simple SMS.
'Aapka ek SMS ek career bacha sakta hain(one SMS from you can save a career).'
Beg. Beg. Beg.
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I am sure you would know Sunidhi Chauhan [ Images ], Shreya Ghoshal [ Images ] and the latest Naresh Iyer.
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...The concept of realitytelevision is defined as genre of programming in which the fortunes of everyday individuals, as opposed to actors, or fictional characters are followed (Soong, 2003). Although these programs have always been prevalent within society, it is only within these last two years that realitytelevision has achieved its greatest success with shows such as Survivor, Big Brother, Master Chef, and Fear Factor. Today, realitytelevision encompasses a variety of specialised formats or subgenres, including most prominently the gamedoc, the makeover program, and the dating program. Mass media, which incorporates realitytelevision, is classified into two different categories, passive or active. This notion is formed from a variety of sociological theories including that of Marx and the Frankfurt School along with other various researchers in the field of literary criticism (Matthewman. et al. 2007). In contemporary society, there are several reasons for the sudden increase in popularity of realitytelevision including money, instant fame and the guilty pleasure phenomenon. As individuals within society, we are inclined to precede reality TV stars and unknowingly make them our role models.
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